Name |
Language of origin |
Word(s) in original language |
Meaning and notes
|
Alberta
|
Latin (ultimately from Proto-Germanic) |
|
Feminine Latinized form of Albert, ultimately from the Proto-Germanic *Aþalaberhtaz (compound of "noble" + "bright/famous"), after Princess Louisa Caroline Alberta[2][3]
|
British Columbia
|
Latin |
|
Referring to the British sector of the Columbia District, after the Columbia River, ultimately after the Columbia Rediviva, a reference to Christopher Columbus[4][5]
|
Manitoba
|
Cree, Ojibwe. or Assiniboine |
manitou-wapow, manidoobaa, or minnetoba |
"Straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit" or "Lake of the Prairie", after Lake Manitoba[6][7]
|
New Brunswick
|
German (ultimately from Low German) |
Brunswiek |
Combination of Bruno and wik, referring to a place where merchants rested and stored their goods[8]
|
Newfoundland and Labrador
|
Portuguese |
Terra Nova and Lavrador |
"New land", and the surname of João Fernandes Lavrador, meaning "farmer" or "plower"[9]
|
Northwest Territories
|
English |
|
Referring to the territory's position relative to Rupert's Land
|
Nova Scotia
|
Latin |
|
"New Scotland", referring to the country Scotland, derived from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels[10][11]
|
Nunavut
|
Inuktitut |
|
Nunavut means "Our land" in the Inuit language[12]
|
Ontario
|
Iroquoian, Wyandot |
Ontarí꞉io or Skanadario |
"Great lake" or "beautiful water", after Lake Ontario[13][14]
|
Prince Edward Island
|
English (ultimately from Old English) |
|
After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon ead "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and weard "guardian, protector"[15]
|
Quebec
|
Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe |
kébec |
"Where the river narrows", referring to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River at Quebec City[16]
|
Saskatchewan
|
Cree |
kisiskāciwani-sīpiy |
"Swift-flowing river", after the Saskatchewan River[17]
|
Yukon
|
Gwichʼin |
chųų gąįį han |
"White water river", after the Yukon River[18][19]
|